What would happen if a small animal (say a rabbit) convinced Eve to eat an avocado instead of an apple (assuming the forbidden fruit was an apple)? That’s the question the makers of a commercial for Super Bowl 2023 decided to take on for their brand, Avocados From Mexico.
If you didn’t see the ad, you can watch it below. It’s an interesting concept. As a naturist, it’s fun to see this type of playful and for the most part non-sexual nudity in the mainstream on TV. I had seen it before the Big Game, so I was looking forward to it coming on as I watched with my Christian small group. Unfortunately, most of them missed it when it came on and no one said anything about it. But I have some thoughts about it, and this is the place to chat about it. So I’ll briefly share a few thoughts here, and you can sound off in the comments section. Let’s dialogue!
It starts with darkness overtaking paradise and Eve with a mouth full saying, “I might’ve taken a small bite.” and Adam realizing he was naked and freaking out. Then to save the day a rabbit (not the serpent) offers Eve an avocado (from Mexico) saying, “They make everything better!” As she breaks it in half, it glows and she looks on in wonder and anticipation. The scene transitions to an alternate reality of present day in the “Big Avocado” (New York) where everyone is naked and going about their jolly day. Everyone is all smiles and traffic is smooth as always. Even the taxi drivers are paying each other compliments saying, “Yo, I love you!” and “No, I love YOU!” And in fashion news, naked continues to be all the rage. There’s an avocado-like phone being launched from a company similar to Apple. And the you can tell Lady Liberty is naked and Eve says, “Now that’s a tourist attraction.”
It’s a very funny and creative ad. Naturists might not like that all the body parts get covered up creatively. We have to remember, this isn’t nudist or naturist programming. It’s mainstream, and for normalizing nudity, I think it’s a win. Prudish Christian attitudes probably thought, “At least they covered up their body parts!” The irony is the half time show (as it usually is) was much more sexually charged and suggestive than this ad about a naked utopia. The bit I didn’t care for was them looking up at the Statue of Liberty and objectifying her a little. The rest is very non-sexual.
I love that the fashion show is all nude, because I’m not a fan of fashion. I get that even naturists like to dress up every now and then, but I’m very utilitarian about my clothing. It needs to be comfortable, and I don’t care much about the brands or the latest trends. True fashion shows and expensive clothing are laughable for me—pointless and silly.
The writers of this brilliant piece must be nudist or at least nudist friendly—similar to the new movie starring Allison Brie, “Somebody I Used to Know.” What’s surprising to me is the theology that goes into this ad. It’s ridiculous to think that another fruit could offset the impact of the forbidden fruit, but they were going for a crazy scenario anyway. But what they paint a picture of is modern day living if no one had ever sinned. We’d still all be naked! We’d be a lot happier! As the sign in the commercial says, “The end is NOT near!”
Detractors from Christian Naturism have claimed that you can’t have an after the end times experience this side of the fall. To do so would be immanentizing the eschaton. We wrote a post about that. This ad creatively supposes the fall never happened, or the rabbit and avocados saved and redeemed humanity. We know Jesus does that and can even restore innocence with faith like a child (Matthew 18:1-3).
Many people have never even considered what this scenario would be like or what the future (Eden restored) will truly be like. Most are too freaked out over their own nakedness like Adam at the beginning to consider such a life. But naturists love and enjoy this reality as much as they can, when they can. It’s unthinkable to the common person. The ad seems outlandish, but it’s really not too far off from a naturist existence. It’s not a perfect world, but for brief moments it pretty much can be.
What are your thoughts about the ad? What did they get right or wrong? How did others react to it at your Super Bowl party?
Aching for Eden 
I didn’t watch the Superbowl so thank you for spotlighting this, cute ad, but afraid that most of the world, just like your church group missed the ad completely or missed the message waiting for a wardrobe failure. We should be proud and be thankful for a public win and keep preaching to the choir in hopes of bringing another convert to Christ, and or naturism. Neither of those challenges are an easy win and combined probably increases the odds exponentially. Fight the good fight and keep swinging for the fence. GOD bless you all.
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Thank you. And thanks for reading the back issues lately!
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I too thought this was a very creative, funny, and pro-naturist commercial. It might very well help some folks chill out over the naked thing!
But going deeper I can’t help but wonder if it subtly trivializes some of our most important doctrines. So much of Hollywood and other media often make Christians look mean or foolish, and biblical theology can be made to look irrelevant as this commercial so humorously does. The line in the ad about how an avocado can “make everything better” is certainly a trivialization of the fall of man and redemption through the cross of Jesus.
But then again, because it is so well done and humorous that us Christian Naturist could use it as a starting point in a conversation of the goodness of the human body as the Image of God and our true redemption in Jesus.
Maybe I’m thinking way too deep? 🤔
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I like your deep thinking!
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John Figleaf has it right. If Adam and Eve could’ve received Jesus’ sacrifice right there on the spot it would have worked just like that. Too bad so many Church leaders are blind to what His blood can do. The good news is that a book is coming out soon that we can all buy for our pastors. It is called “Surprised into Freedom” by Philip Oak. Watch for it!
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Yes! I hope for brave pastors to read with an open mind!
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I wonder if they could have been saved at that moment though? If Moses and the other OT people had faith counted as righteousness I wonder what would keep them from the same if they had faith that one day one of their offspring would bruise the head of the serpent.
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We watched the SB with a few family members. When the ad played there were chuckles and laughs from them and some innuendos made. We were asked if the actors were really nude, not knowing, we said probably not. Then we were asked if we and some of our nudist friends would do a commercial like that nude. Our answer was of course we would as long as it represented nudity in a positive light and not as a joke. They agreed after some conversation that nudity can be used in a good way to represent certain elements in our lives. So, it (the commercial) in reality sparked a positive conversation overall.
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That’s great!!
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Nice post! I wrote about the ad, too – a bit more from the perspective of history and geography. I agree that overall it’s a positive message. Here’s my take: nudescribe.com/2023/02/11/avocados-and-the-nude-world.
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Thanks! I’ll check your post out later. Good to hear from you.
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Dear Phil: Many thanks for this engaging discussion. I enjoyed the exuberance of the ad. What struck me in the end was the clash between the apparent naturism of the people in an environment that was completely non-naturist in terms of its values. The challenge remains to try to imagine a world in which the experience of the body encountered in naturism is worked out into a coherent lifestyle. In such a world, there would be no skyscrapers, no taxis, no rampant consumerism . . . But what would be there, I wonder? Certainly nature would loom a lot larger, and perhaps a much greater material simplicity.
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Right! Agreed. Great point.
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